Tag: Trump

Media

‘Who do you think is going to win that?’: Trump battle could be Lachlan Murdoch’s first problem

Without its legacy film and television business, Fox Corp’s most-high-profile division is Fox News, which is in a symbiotic relationship with the president of the United States. That relationship is already challenging Lachlan to deal with what one Hollywood executive called “the elephant in the room” for Fox – the toxic identity of Fox News in a mostly liberal entertainment industry.
On the other side of the political spectrum, several Fox News staffers said they are distrustful of Lachlan’s devotion to the cable news channel, and some call Lachlan “Fredo” behind his back, an unkind reference to a weak-willed son in “The Godfather.” The opinionated, conservative faction of the company that supports Trump is already testing his authority.

Trump became president, giving Rupert unprecedented access to a sitting US president – a relationship he has long coveted. The two men talk weekly, according to people close to them, and sometimes more often than that.

Lachlan doesn’t like to talk to the politicians. Rupert, however, has always has been attuned to political realities.

This is what Murdoch has always been about THE ART OF THE DEAL something Trump could never finese. (ODT)

“Rupert understood all along that governments care about media and that they meddle in it, and they have rules and you have to have a rapprochement to be successful,” said Reed Hundt, a former FCC chairman in the Clinton administration.

The Murdochs agreed to the Disney offer as the Justice Department was fighting AT&T’s $US85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner. In contrast to the hostility Trump displayed toward that deal, Trump spoke to Rupert the day the Fox deal with Disney was announced and “congratulated him,” according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

(In another sign of the Murdochs and Trumps having close ties: When Ivanka Trump joined the White House, she relinquished her role as trustee of the fortune of Rupert Murdoch’s two youngest children.)

“It’s Lachlan versus the president,” said the 21st Century Fox film executive. “Who do you think is going to win that?”

‘Who do you think is going to win that?’: Trump battle could be Lachlan Murdoch’s first problem

Trumpland Revealed

Trump is cornered, with violence on his mind. We must be on red alert | Robert Reich | US news | The Guardian

Trump vetoes Congress, surrounded by law enforcement officials.

Trump sounds like Brenton Tarrant in NZ (ODT)

In an interview with Breitbart News published on Wednesday, Trump noted: “I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough – until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”

In case you missed it, “they” are Trump’s political opponents, including House Democrats and the mainstream media. And the “certain point” could be impeachment but is more likely to be reached if the House investigations reveal crimes Trump committed both before and after he became president.

Trump has given cover to some of the most vile bigots in America. As he grows desperate, he is giving them encouragement

“I actually think that the people on the right are tougher,” Trump warned in the same interview. “But the left plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress … with all this invest[igations] – that’s all they want to do is – you know, they do things that are nasty.”

Here we have it, in a nutshell. In Trump’s mind, congressional investigations that could cause him shame and humiliation, and quite possibly result in a prison sentence, will be countered by forces loyal to him: the police, the military, and vigilante groups like Bikers for Trump.

via Trump is cornered, with violence on his mind. We must be on red alert | Robert Reich | US news | The Guardian

Trumpland Revealed, Uncategorized

Democrats bar Fox News from political debates over Trump ties

The Goose locked out Journalists from his events and claims entitlement for the tactic. The Gander isn’t inviting the FOX into their party.  Factless politics and crocodile tears is Trump’s strategy and style. Fear before Reason his tactic. (ODT)

via Democrats bar Fox News from political debates over Trump ties

The White House, Uncategorized

BREAKING: Ted Lieu’s Criminal Referral Of Jared Kushner | Crooks and Liars

BREAKING: Ted Lieu's Criminal Referral Of Jared Kushner

We’ve known forever that Kushner made repeated “omissions” on his security clearance forms, and then got security clearance (allegedly!) because his father-in-law said so? Two Congressmen have now referred these issues to the Justice Department as a criminal referral.

via BREAKING: Ted Lieu’s Criminal Referral Of Jared Kushner | Crooks and Liars

Socialism, Uncategorized

CPAC Speakers Were Obsessed With the Socialist Bogeyman

At a Thursday night party hosted by Turning Point USA, a far-right youth group most known for filming its members wearing diapers on a college campus, people took pictures with a cardboard cut-out of Ocasio-Cortez that had “pendeja,” a Spanish slang word that translates loosely to “dumbass,” written in pen on her face. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., who attended along with Donald Trump, Jr., and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, led the partygoers in a chant that was, by that point, predictable: “Socialism sucks!”

via CPAC Speakers Were Obsessed With the Socialist Bogeyman

Venezuela

Horrifying VIDEOS show RAMMING at Simon Bolivar bridge in Venezuela — RT World News

Horrifying VIDEOS show RAMMING at Simon Bolivar bridge in Venezuela

The Trump enabled actions all for the votes and donations  in Florida. (ODT)

The Venezuelan authorities called the three defectors “terrorists” and said they had hijacked the two armored vehicles of the National Guard for a publicity stunt orchestrated by the opposition. The opposition said the three were guardsmen, who decided to stand with the Venezuelan people.

via Horrifying VIDEOS show RAMMING at Simon Bolivar bridge in Venezuela — RT World News

Trumpland Revealed

Trump Uses Old Video To Pretend ‘New Construction’ On Wall | Crooks and Liars

Brian Williams didn’t hide the snark on Wednesday’s 11th Hour show. Trump used a video showing Army Corps of Engineers repairing an extension of an existing border fence in New Mexico, touting it as “new” wall construction.

He really does think his base are idiots.

PS Trump’s fake national “emergency” actually takes money from the Army Corps of Engineers.

via Trump Uses Old Video To Pretend ‘New Construction’ On Wall | Crooks and Liars

Trump, Trumpland Revealed

The Myth of the US Knocking the Hell Out of ISIS

The Myth of the US Knocking the Hell Out of ISIS. 63395.jpeg

ISIS is a US creation. So are al-Qaeda, its al-Nusra offshoot, and other terrorist groups – used by the Pentagon and CIA as proxy troops.

Trump claiming “(w)e’re knocking the hell out of ISIS…We have defeated ISIS in Syria” are Big Lies. Earlier he boasted that he “know(s) more about #ISIS than generals do…”

By Stephen Landman

via The Myth of the US Knocking the Hell Out of ISIS

Syria, Uncategorized

No, US Troop Deaths in Syria don’t Contradict Defeat of ISIL

How to really defeat ISIL (ODT)

The literature I’ve reviewed suggests that the best way totally to defeat an insurgency is to change the social and economic situation that caused part of the public to support it. Trump’s mean-spirited denial of reconstruction aid to Raqqa is a much better predictor of an ISIL resurgence than a few roadside bombs.

And that should be the question. How to reconstruct Eastern Syria so as to forestall a return of radicalism that might become a base for terrorism against, e.g. Europe? A couple thousand US troops are not what will solve the problems one way or another, at this phase of the struggle.

Trump may o may not be doing the right thing to pull out the troops. He is definitely doing the wrong thing by declining to put resources into reconstruction.

via No, US Troop Deaths in Syria don’t Contradict Defeat of ISIL

Informed Comment

Robert Reich: The Trump dictatorship | Salon.com

The only redeeming aspect to Trump’s presidency is he brings us back to basics. And what could be more basic than the difference between democracy and dictatorship?

The choice could not be clearer. Democracy is about means, while dictatorship is about ends. Trump uses any means available to achieve his own ends.

We can preserve our democracy and force Trump out of office. Or we can continue to struggle against someone who strives to thwart democracy for his own benefit.

In the months ahead, that choice will be made, one way or the other.

via Robert Reich: The Trump dictatorship | Salon.com

Trumpland Revealed

Trump Blamed His Press Shop For His Disastrous Address Before He Gave It | Crooks and Liars

Trump Blamed His Press Shop For His Disastrous Address Before He Gave It

POTUS BUCK PASSING AGAIN BUT BEFORE THE EVENT (ODT)

he chose to follow recommendations he thinks will fail so he can blame the entire debacle on his press shop. He was already blaming Bill Shine for not rounding up enough loyal surrogates; now those surrogates are responsible for the events of this week, which will mean, in Trump’s mind, that they’re responsible for the whole debacle, even though Trump didn’t have to take their advice and do the speech and the border visit. That was his choice.

Trump cannot fail — he can only be failed, according to Trump. And now he’s established that Shine et al. have failed him. They gave bad advice and he took it, knowing it was bad advice, just so he could blame them.

via Trump Blamed His Press Shop For His Disastrous Address Before He Gave It | Crooks and Liars

Media, Uncategorized

Networks Accused of ‘Capitulating’ to Deceitful President as #BoycottTrumpsAddress Surges

“Trump’s primetime stunt is a campaign dog-whistle to his base, not a legitimate policy speech about a genuine crisis. Shame on every TV station that airs it.”

via Networks Accused of ‘Capitulating’ to Deceitful President as #BoycottTrumpsAddress Surges

Humour

HILARIOUS: Trump Declares Himself The Expert On Literally Everything | Crooks and Liars

HILARIOUS: Trump Declares Himself The Expert On Literally Everything

Donald Trump, without evidence or facts, declares himself an expert on everything. His actions, statements (and misstatements) and policy decisions show he is a Lying Liar McLiarPants.

via HILARIOUS: Trump Declares Himself The Expert On Literally Everything | Crooks and Liars

USA

Islamic State threatens US & EU cities with drone attacks in chilling new poster after Gatwick chaos — RT UK News

Islamic State threatens US & EU cities with drone attacks in chilling new poster after Gatwick chaos

The War that Trump won against ISIS is over. I don’t think so. (ODT)

via Islamic State threatens US & EU cities with drone attacks in chilling new poster after Gatwick chaos — RT UK News

Israel

“Dangerous!:” Israel Denounces Trump’s withdrawal from Syria

The move was also criticised by Israeli officials who warned that it would help Russia and arch-enemy Iran expand their influence in Syria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that Tel Aviv would escalate its fight against Iranian-allied forces in the country: “We will continue to act very aggressively against Iran’s efforts to entrench in Syria. We do not intend to reduce our efforts. We will intensify them, and I know that we do so with the full support and backing of the United States.”

via “Dangerous!:” Israel Denounces Trump’s withdrawal from Syria

Trumpland Revealed, Uncategorized

Donald Trump knew hush payments were wrong, Michael Cohen says in interview – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Adult film-star Stormy Daniels

Mr Trump’s former “fixer” gives his first interview since being sentenced to three years in prison
Mr Trump knew payments to silence a former Playboy model and adult film star were wrong, Cohen says
Federal law requires campaign contributions to be disclosed

via Donald Trump knew hush payments were wrong, Michael Cohen says in interview – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Trumpland Revealed

Trump’s former fixer Cohen sentenced to prison for ‘smorgasbord of fraud’

Trump's former lawyer sentenced to three years

US President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for a string of offences, including campaign law violations he said he committed at Trump’s direction.

via Trump’s former fixer Cohen sentenced to prison for ‘smorgasbord of fraud’

Trumpland Revealed

Rex Tillerson Speaks Out About Trump’s Ignorance Of Law | Crooks and Liars

Rex Tillerson sat down for a rare interview with Bob Schieffer of CBS News, and said what everybody already knows.

Donald Trump doesn’t have an inkling of how government works or how to be President and he doesn’t want to learn. Quotes from the interview:

via Rex Tillerson Speaks Out About Trump’s Ignorance Of Law | Crooks and Liars

Climate Change

G-20 Nations Agree On Trade, Migration; Trump Lone Holdout On Climate Change | HuffPost

Leaders of the Group of 20 agreed Saturday to fix the world trading system after difficult, all-night talks in the Argentine capital, but only 19 of them agreed to support the Paris accord on fighting climate change with the United States the lone holdout.

via G-20 Nations Agree On Trade, Migration; Trump Lone Holdout On Climate Change | HuffPost

Trumpland Revealed

Donald Trump regrets choosing Federal Reserve chief Jerome “Jay” Powell

Greg Sheridan of Murdoch’s Australian keeps insisting ” don’t listen to what Trump says pay attention to what he does. He’s not that bad”. Good one Sheridan even  broken clock is right twice a day.( ODT)

In a wide-ranging and sometimes discordant 20-minute interview with The Washington Post, Trump complained at length about Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome “Jay” Powell, whom he nominated earlier this year. He argued that rising interest rates and other Fed policies were damaging the economy – as evidenced by GM’s announcement this week that it was laying off 15 per cent of its workforce – though he insisted that he is not worried about a recession.

“I’m doing deals, and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed,” Trump said. “They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”

He added: “So far, I’m not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay. Not even a little bit. And I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m just telling you I think that the Fed is way off-base with what they’re doing.”

via Donald Trump regrets choosing Federal Reserve chief Jerome “Jay” Powell

Trumpland Revealed

Orange County, A Conservative Bastion, Turns Blue For The First Time In Decades | HuffPost

In 2016, the conservative bastion of Orange County, California, voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since the Great Depression. Two years later, Democrats succeeded in capturing all of seven of its congressional seats ― a stunning feat in what has traditionally been a seat of Republican power that catapulted both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to the White House.

Source: Orange County, A Conservative Bastion, Turns Blue For The First Time In Decades | HuffPost

Trumpland Revealed

House Dems Already Have Their List of Trump Scandals to Investigate. Here It Is. – Mother Jones

You can read the whole list. But here is a sampling of the topics Cummings and his Democratic colleagues have set their sights on:

White House security clearances (involving Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, national security adviser John Bolton, and others)
The controversial addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census
The Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban
The State Department’s decision to close its cyber office
The Environmental Protection Agency’s use of a political loyalty list
The possible participation of Cambridge Analytica’s foreign employees in US elections
The deadly ambush in Niger that left four American soldiers dead
The use of private email by White House officials
Trump’s response to the hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico
The dealings of the Trump Foundation
Potential conflicts of interest between Kushner’s business actions and his policy advice
Payments the Trump Organization received from foreign sources
Russian intervention with state voting systems
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s contacts with foreign officials

via House Dems Already Have Their List of Trump Scandals to Investigate. Here It Is. – Mother Jones

Trumpland Revealed, Uncategorized

Fake news, racism and bombs: Fear and loathing in Trump’s America | USA | Al Jazeera

Image result for Cartoons on pipe bombs

Yesterday’s bomb threat showed yet again that Trump is the most prominent enabler of domestic terrorism in the US.

Under this presidency, racial dog whistles have been normalised. Even worse, white supremacist ideology has been validated, and Nazi protesters are regarded as “very fine people”. When Trump recently proclaimed he is a nationalist, which is understood as white nationalist – white supremacists such as former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke heralded the announcement. Trump’s Republican Party has undergone its full-scale descent into fascism, complete with Brownshirts such as the Proud Boys – a gang of Republican-affiliated street brawlers who thrive on toxic masculinity, Islamophobia and racial violence, and seek broader public acceptance at a time when their man is the most powerful person in America. This, as white nationalist hate group Identity Evropa plots its infiltration into the Republican Party to mainstream their white supremacy and ban nonwhite immigration.

via Fake news, racism and bombs: Fear and loathing in Trump’s America | USA | Al Jazeera

Trumpland Revealed

“I am a Nationalist” – Donald Trump apes Mussolini in Drive to destroy America

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump proudly says he is a “nationalist.”

He is, of course, saying this to shore up support among white nationalists. The Nazi sites on the web were all having wet dreams in the aftermath.

From the 1990s, polling has found that about 10% of Americans support far right militias. These are the white nationalists. Trump came to power by mobilizing that 10% and combining it with Republicans and independents.

It is not an accident that Benito Mussolini called his party “Nationalist Fascism.” The two go together. Trump performs the “fascist” part of this two-part term every time he does a rally, so he doesn’t have to say “I am a Nationalist Fascist,” i.e. a Mussolini-ist. But that is what he is.

via “I am a Nationalist” – Donald Trump apes Mussolini in Drive to destroy America

Informed Comment

Carl Bernstein: Trump Is Waging An Unprecedented War On Truth | Crooks and Liars

what we have never had is a President of the United States who uses lying and untruth as a basic method to promote his policies, his beliefs, and his way of approaching the American people and engaging with the world, that his default position is to use untruth to go toward his objectives.

via Carl Bernstein: Trump Is Waging An Unprecedented War On Truth | Crooks and Liars

ISIS, Uncategorized

ISIS murderous history: Terrorist group takes 700 hostages

Islamic State have captured 700 hostages in Syria overnight.

ON TUESDAY, Donald Trump made a bold declaration, declaring victory. Only two days later, that lie was proven deadly wrong.

That’s what US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

But fast forward to today and we hear reports that far from being defeated, Islamic State has this week captured 700 hostages and says it will kill 10 of them a day unless the group’s demands are met.

It’s understood that members of IS attacked a refugee camp last week, leading to the hostages being taken. Among them are Europeans and US citizens.

via ISIS murderous history: Terrorist group takes 700 hostages

Informed Comment

8 Times Donald Trump Claimed He Was A Self-Made Man

The source of Trump’s fortune was his father, who bailed out the son’s failing businesses many times, a bombshell New York Times investigation found.

Donald Trump has, for decades, attempted to portray himself as a self-made, up-by-your-bootstraps entrepreneur who benefited little from his father’s fortune, relying on his own gumption and wiles to overcome financial challenges.

But a bombshell investigation by The New York Times published Tuesday annihilated this claim

8 Times Donald Trump Claimed He Was A Self-Made Man

Tax Evasion

Al Capone didn’t have a Murdoch Fox Defense

 

Image result for al caponeRelated image

 

Trumpland

‘This Is a Farce, Not an Investigation’: Trump Accused of Rigging FBI’s Kavanaugh Probe By Imposing ‘Outrageous’ Limits

President Donald Trump introduces U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh as his nominee to the United States Supreme Court during an event in the East Room of the White House July 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Just 24 hours after caving to pressure from the Senate and requesting an FBI probe into the sexual assault allegations against his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump is reportedly already working to impose strict limitations on the scope of the investigation—a move that has been denounced as a flagrant attempt to further rig the process in Kavanaugh’s favor.

via ‘This Is a Farce, Not an Investigation’: Trump Accused of Rigging FBI’s Kavanaugh Probe By Imposing ‘Outrageous’ Limits

Obama, Uncategorized

‘Dangerous times’: Barack Obama accuses Donald Trump and Republicans of ‘abuses of power’

Former US president Barack Obama assailed President Donald Trump and Republicans on Friday, urging Democrats to restore a “semblance of sanity” to politics by voting in November’s elections.

via ‘Dangerous times’: Barack Obama accuses Donald Trump and Republicans of ‘abuses of power’

collective fear, Uncategorized

Trump tops list of Germans’ fears ahead of terrorism and immigration – survey finds — RT World News

Anti Trump Rally In Berlin © Omer Messinger/Global Look Press

What’s keeping most Germans from getting a good night’s sleep? A survey has found that beating international terrorism, illegal immigration, and economic worries is none other than the US president. Well, his policies at least.

Anti Trump Rally In Berlin © Omer Messinger/Global Look Press Trump v the world? Belligerent unilateralism turning US into ‘rogue state’, analysts tell RT

Asking a sample of 2,400 Germans between June 8 and July 18 of this year, the multiple choice questionnaire found that 69 percent of Germans deemed Trump’s policies and attitude to allies were having a dangerous impact across the globe

via Trump tops list of Germans’ fears ahead of terrorism and immigration – survey finds — RT World News

Trumpland

Donald Trump’s Approval Ratings Tank, While Disapproval Ratings Reach An All Time High Of 60% | Crooks and Liars

Donald Trump's Approval Ratings Tank, While Disapproval Ratings Reach An All Time High Of 60%

It looks like Donald Trump daily twitter rants, weekly rallies and unhinged interviews where he rants against the press, Robert Muller and the Special Counsel, Jeff Sessions and Democrats is falling flat with potential voters. A poll by ABC/Washington Post posted on Friday showed a marked drop in the polls for Trump – only 36% approve, while 60% disapprove! That is a shocking number.

In summary, none of these numbers are good for Trump. He is losing support of the Republican party across all areas and independents seem to be leaning more towards the Democrats. This is terrible news for him with under 70 days until the elections. But it is great news for the rest of us!

Donald Trump’s Approval Ratings Tank, While Disapproval Ratings Reach An All Time High Of 60% | Crooks and Liars

Allies

All the way with Donald J? | The Monthly

Australia cannot stay silent about Trump

Donald Trump is the present spokesman for this derangement, the fear’s instrument and its preposterous embodiment. Trump is a racist, an ignoramus, a huckster and a creep. The human face of our US ally is contemptuous of human rights, the free press and any democratic norm or diplomatic protocol that doesn’t suit him, or which he thinks can be trashed to his political advantage. In addition to the trade war he recently started, the US under Trump’s “America First” banner has handed China undreamed of high ground and momentous strategic gifts by retreating from its role as Asia’s security provider. The Trans Pacific Partnership on which Australian governments set so much store, Trump knocked on the head. He flirts with authoritarian thugs while attacking, mocking and undermining democratic allies and institutions of the so-called rules-based international order. He has demolished truth, or what was left of it. He may even be Vladimir Putin’s stooge.

All the way with Donald J? | The Monthly

Riots

Swedish prime minister livid after youths torch more than 100 cars

Populist politicians have alleged that increased crime in Sweden is linked to migration. The Sweden Democrats, a far-right party with links to neo-Nazism, have suggested freezing out asylum seekers and reducing the country’s immigration budget.

But when it comes to intentionally setting fire to cars, said Manne Gerell, a lecturer in criminology at Malmo University, such incidents have increased “big-time” over the past couple decades — but not in the past two or so years.

Across Sweden, around 1500 cars are burned each year, he said. The reasons can range from insurance fraud or hiding other crimes to social unrest and “random youth vandalism.”

In early 2017, riots broke out in a largely immigrant suburb near Stockholm. As The Post reported then, the riots occurred “just two days after President [Donald] Trump provoked widespread consternation by seeming to imply, incorrectly, that immigrants had perpetrated a recent spate of violence in Sweden.”

Sweden is far from the only place where youth have set cars on fire. On recent New Year’s Eves in France, young people have torched hundreds of cars. During recent end-of-year celebrations, around 1000 cars were set on fire a number of years in a row.

via Swedish prime minister livid after youths torch more than 100 cars